PRC reveals topnotcher of 2026 Physicians Licensure Exam
The Professional Regulation Commission has now disclosed the identity of the topnotcher in the March 2026 Physicians Licensure Examination after previously withholding it from the official results.
In their updated Facebook post congratulating the successful takers, the name of the first placer—Erwin Ken Parchaso from Lyceum-Northwestern University in Dagupan City, Pangasinan—has now been added to the top ten examinees.
Initially, the commission had only indicated “name withheld” in its initial release of results on April 8.
The PRC told PhilSTAR L!fe that Parchaso's name had been excluded as the list needed "further verification due to matters arising during the confidential deliberations conducted by the Professional Regulatory Board of Medicine, which it could not verify while quarantined."
"The release of the corresponding result was then temporarily withheld pending the completion of a comprehensive review and statistical analysis, as well as the verification of submitted reports from the concerned regional office," they explained.
They asserted that the measure was not meant to "cast any doubt on the examinee’s integrity or capabilities," but rather to "affirm the accuracy and reliability of the results through the commission’s standard validation process."
"The examinee’s remarkable and consistent performance across all subjects reflects outstanding effort and ability, and it is precisely for this reason that a careful review was warranted—to ensure that the results are fully confirmed and duly recognized in accordance with the commission’s policies and standards," the PRC said.
Meanwhile, the Lyceum-Northwestern University has now celebrated Parchaso's achievement, highlighting how his feat "reflects outstanding excellence, dedication, and the strong foundation of medical education within the Lycean community."
There were a total of 1,954 successful passers out of the 2,781 examinees in this year's Physicians Licensure Examination.
The test was conducted last March across various testing centers in NCR, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Pampanga, Rosales, Tacloban, Tuguegarao, and Zamboanga.
